Human
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: "You don't love yourself?" "No. Of course not. I never have."


**I won't bore y'all with the details, but I've been having a really rough month, and it's completely destroyed my energy and motivation for pretty much everything. I thought this up at work today and it's pretty much a miracle that by the time I got home and got some other stuff done that I still could stay awake long enough to write it.**

 **But anyway, this takes place somewhere around the current point in the show.**

* * *

"I swear to God," Paige said, walking up to Walter and throwing her arms around him, "every time we take a job like this I want to demand you never scare me like that again, but today I really want to make that request."

"Hell, I want to make that request," Cabe said, brushing some soot off of his sleeve. "That was some crazy stunt, Kid."

"Crazy, yeah!" said Roger, their employer for the day. "But freaking incredible!"

What was incredible, Paige thought, was that Roger's sister resented their parents so much that she had ended up putting nearly one thousand people in danger. But she held her tongue.

"Not overly incredible," Walter said. "A risk, yes, but it did have a thirty percent chance of working and that is much higher than the odds that we normally work with."

"Well, thanks, man," Roger said, extending his hand out to Walter. "That was amazing. I wish I had your brain."

"I would too, if I were you," Walter said, taking the older man's hand and shaking it firmly.

Paige opened her mouth to say something, but Roger didn't seem too put off by the comment. "I will absolutely call on Team Scorpion again should I ever need your assistance," he said. "Although to be honest, and please don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I never see this team again as long as I live."

Cabe chuckled. "No offense taken."

"I appreciate you all taking my concerns seriously," Roger continued. "I knew that Bretta wasn't behaving correctly. You can't love someone unless you love yourself, and with the way she was, there was no way she was taking care of my parents out of the goodness of her heart. She had to have been trying to get into my father's chemistry lab. If you guys hadn't believed me…"

"Nine hundred people would be dead," Walter said. "Yes, we know." He nodded. "But we are trained to recognize patterns, it's one of the strengths that I.Q. examinations will test vigorously. And when something deviates from a pattern, it is always worth taking note of."

"Your observations saved a lot of people today," Cabe said to Roger. "I know it's hard when it's family. But you should be proud of yourself."

* * *

In response to Happy and Toby's farewells, Paige smiled in the direction of the door.

It wasn't terribly late yet, but the days were getting shorter and it was starting to get dark enough in the garage for lights to be on. Walter's lamp was glowing from his desk, illuminating his face as he stared intently at his laptop, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

 _Fastest fingers on Team Scorpion,_ Cabe had commented earlier. He had meant it innocently, but Paige had smirked to herself. And hours later, his hands were still on her mind.

"Hey Walter," she said, "you wanna head upstairs?"

No response. "Walter!" She said, a little louder.

He looked up. "What? Hmmm?"

"I was just saying," Paige said, "we're alone now, and Ralph's on that school trip…"

"I hate what Roger said."

Paige rose, taking a few steps across the room, pausing when Walter got to his feet. "What did Roger say?"

He walked toward her, but she wasn't sure he realized he was doing it. "I…the thing about how you can't love someone unless you love yourself."

Paige hadn't even remembered that comment, something that surprised her given how strongly it had related to their case. "Why is that?" She asked quietly, hoping her voice sounded gentle.

Walter looked as if the answer was obvious. "Because if he's right, then I must be doing something really wrong with you."

Her features softened slightly as she connected the dots. "You don't love yourself?"

He blinked, again looking as if he was surprised that she had to ask. "No. Of course not. I never have."

"Really?" She cocked her head to the side. "You really don't?"

He nodded. "Really. Is that so surprising?"

"Well…uh…" Paige hesitated. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but earlier today you did tell Roger that everyone should wish that they had your brain."

"Ah. I see how that could be confusing." Walter nodded. "See, I am extremely proud of my intelligence. Anyone who has my intelligence should be. But that's the I.Q. end of it. But the…human side…of course I've never liked it. I used to not like it because I thought it made me weak, and now it's just…well, I'm so bad at it. And if it's true that you can't love someone right unless you love yourself, then I'm not being fair to you. I'm not giving you what you deserve. And that…that would just make me hate myself more."

"Okay, Walter," she said, placing her hands on his chest. "But you know that I didn't fall in love with you for your brain, right?" There was a silence, and he broke eye contact, looking down toward her hands. "Hey," she said, "look at me, please?"

Walter did, slowly, but then held her gaze, and she saw his Adam's Apple bob. "I love that you're smart, Walter," she said, "but it's not like you started talking about algorithms and I got all hot. I love your brain, okay? I do. Your intelligence is a huge part of who you are. But I love the whole package. And that includes the human part."

"I…I think about us, and my feelings for you, and it all feels…" He glanced to the side ever so briefly before returning his eyes to hers. "This is the realist thing I've ever felt. But I _don't_ love myself, Paige. I just…I hate myself a lot less when I know I've made you happy. Or when you tell me you love me. And not hating myself is an improvement from where I was. And I know that that's pretty pathetic, but…I'm trying."

Paige leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek. "You're not pathetic." She slid her hands up to his neck. "Just try to remember that you hired me to help you understand the world because that's something I'm better than you at. So if I love you as a human…then by that logic, that means the person you are is definitely lovable, right?"

The corner of his mouth turned up. "I suppose it makes a lot of sense when you put it like that."

She kissed him.

* * *

 **Reviews are super nice.**


End file.
